Beside a melt down of the APP over the weekend, the APP is working pretty well. My goal here, is to put some numbers behind this project, and to see how good or bad it is. My point to date is, I enter a name into my database and I am seeing Hints from Ancestry, some times even before I enter any dates.

All Data in my PC Family Tree Maker (FTM2014.1) file is solely from the APP. No records have been looked at, only what is presented in the APP.

For example:

374 People

14 Generations

1,215 Facts (all documented)

60 Citations

1 Source (the APP)

There are a few Data Errors, that are also documented. BUT the best part is that 148 people had Shaky Leaf Hints to use RECORDS to Prove to Disprove the APP.

I started this project by creating a Google Sheet of each of the relationship charts in the APP. That turned out to be a Back Up when the APP decided to stop working and I had to start over. Actually, that was a help, because I was able to use that time to create an Online Tree from FTM2014.1. The Google Sheet is here:

Using the APP you can view the Ancestors for the “Cousins” back to their common ancestor. This is what one looks like.

I took that data, and ONLY that data to create that Google Sheet. From there, I created an Ancestry Member Tree, using FTM2014.1.

My goal here is actually had TWO purposes, after I thought about this for a bit.

1 – To evaluate the APP for accuracy. At first, I saw a number of people put the APP down. I don’t know, but I want to see how it might work. I had a bad experience earlier with a web based app like this.

2 – Can an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) be used for Collaboration. The became apparent with the number of Facebook Friends, who are also Genealogists work on an AMT with the owner of the tree.

I am sure that each of us has “brick walls” and perhaps working together we can help with those issues. The best example has already happened as one of my new cousins was also a DNA Match. With the APP we are pretty sure who is the Common Ancestor. The APP suggests it, but I am a couple of generations short of that common ancestor. In looking into this one, I have a Local (locally published) book on the Location of our “common ancestor” that actually mentions my known family and my new cousin’s known family AND they were neighbors. That book, doesn’t have my ancestor, but may have my cousin’s ancestor. Together with might be able to help each other. A DNA and Paper Trail working together.

The next example of how this has worked already, is the APP has suggest to DearMYRTLE and I at lease ONE of our Common Ancestors. She mentioned one of her Cousin Connections from the APP, mentioned the Common Ancestor. I looked in my database and I already have her Ancestor in my database, as a brother of one of my ancestors. We didn’t have to research to find the common ancestor, but now we can PROVE this relationship from the Hints generated by our Ancestry Member Trees.

I have figured out how to communicate with my newly found cousins what I can only see in FTM2014.1 but would be helpful to them. For example, I have some File Notes, on how I enter my data, then they need to know. I figured out how to do that. My ToDo / Task list will also be available to them, in the AMT.

The plan, at the moment, is to let my new cousin’s, take their Ancestors and Prove the line. Not with a lot of work, as there are hints there, using the AMT Hints, select a Record that documents the information in the tree, update the profile with that record. I would then Sync the AMT with FTM2014.1, and see how we did. That is Records to Prove the APP data was correct or incorrect.

Just looking at the data so far, there are almost 700 RECORD Hints in the AMT, based on the data entirely from the APP.

In watching his blog posts, I found a number of common people showing up on my list as well.

From my experience with the other BSO, I thought I would check into some of the folks that have appeared on my list. Knowing that there may be some truth in these relationships, but also may be some more work involved, I thought I would see what I was dealing with and IF there were any folks on this list who might be of interest to me, and / or my family and the Next Generation.

What If: one of the next generation was a fan of Carrie Fisher or Johnny Depp. That might get them interested in the research that I have done. BUT, how much work would I have to do, to make that connection.

So, I created a spreadsheet:

I entered the names and relationships, according to the APP, created a Category, as provided in the APP and determined who the common Ancestor “might” be.

In reality, of the 11 famous people, I actually had 2 of the 11 common ancestors in my database and in my Ancestry Member Tree. I have 3 more people, where I was 1 generation from that common ancestor.

Looking at the details of what is on the APP, if have determined that all 4 of my Grandparents have been represented in these relationships. Of the 11, 3 are on my Dads side of my tree, 8 on my Mother’s side of the tree. I really thought that was interesting.

In the above list, blurred out, are 3 Facebook Friends. All Genealogists. This may be a really cool collaboration opportunity. In fact, just last week I had a new DNA connection for my Mother’s great grandfather’s line. That same line is a line of one of these Facebook friends.

At least I know what I have to work with, IF I want to follow any of these BSOs.

I then created a tab in my spreadsheet for each of these famous people.

I chose, for this example, Winston Churchill. my “reported” 7th cousin, 1x removed. This is one of the common ancestors that I already have in my database.

This spreadsheet is giving me an idea as to how much work I might want to undertake to prove or disprove my relationship back to the common ancestor. And / Or do I want to actually follow the other line down to that famous person. I haven’t done this yet, but I may already have information on that other line in my database, just looking at the surnames involved.

I will probably post some additional information on this activity, as I would really like to get back a little further on this Canadian / DNA Connection with my Facebook friend and Genealogist to see if this APP might lead to some Collaboration in the future.

Like this:

Guess I shouldn’t have made that the title of the post, so you get that answer, before how I got there.

The problem, genealogical question, is Where is the 120 Acre Farm, owned by this Civil War Soldier?

Before I get there, what I learned is, not only have another set of eyes look at the problem and where you are, but another discipline set of eyes. What I learned is that a person at a Historical Society might approach a problem (or Genealogical Question) from a different angle.

I had been emailing two members of the Washington Township Historical Society and their approach was certainly different. One program that they offer, at least once a year, is a Historical House Tour. So, they might use Deeds far more than I would or have. They know where to look. Very helpful hints.

Today, I knew that some one was going to be at the Museum so I stopped by to see what else I might find. I had mentioned that the father of my soldier “rented the Dufford farm”, from a reference book they had in their collection.

I was presented with a 2” wide box for that surname, as there is a local family organization in the area, as the family has been around for a very long time.

While I was looking through that collection, another person went to look at maps. A similar map from want I had been looking at. Much clearer, but know knows the historic area better than I, but I heard “I found something”. There is was … all I can say …. “spelling doesn’t count”.

Who would have looked at Woertz, when I was looking for Ort, on the map. I had seen that on the map, but had not oriented by mind to where that was in reality.

Now, I had found my Civil War Soldier’s family with a street name, so I knew where the property was from the Census Record. The Map showed the same location.

I had done the Census, back a page or two, forward a page or two, so I knew the neighbors. The bad part of that is, the combination of names are very similar around the township.

The 1880 Census was my next stop (again).

,

Then I remembered, no “next page”. But, the answer is on the previous page

Across the street on the map, very nicely shows D. Dufford, as does the Census.

A different set of eyes, different way to research, AND “Spelling doesn’t count”, helped me identify the 120 Farm that was talked about in that Pension File.

Like this:

Over the weekend, I listened to the Board of Certified Genealogists / Legacy Family Tree Webinar series. Great job to the presenters and a Thank you to Legacy Family Tree Webinar for making these recording available.

The point that I picked up on, was that we can, at some point in time, put one of our time consuming, reasonably exhaustive research (or search) aside. That was important because I have been spending a lot of time trying to determine how this Post Office indication, in this 1870 Census record played a role in locating this farm. Was it an important “issue” to walk away from.

Not willing to just walk away from it, I took one more try. I went to another website, in this case FamilySearch.org to see what I could find there. Went to their Wiki and located their Census Records.

I wanted to look at the same data, but from a different angle. It was easy to locate the Township Census Records, found what I was looking for and went to the First Page for the township. Sure enough the same Post Office. Went to the last page, same Post Office. Because of the way this website presented the data, I thought about the notion of a page or two before you entry, and a page or two after your entry. Just did that for my township. What about the neighboring township? Sure enough, I finally found my “permission” to put this “issue aside. The next township also had the SAME Post Office on all of it’s pages.

But, did the township borders change? Earlier I had located a Google Book entry for the History of the County, so I located a hint about that:

No impact there. So, the Post Office issue, for the 1870 Census is off of my plate. Thanks Judy.

Before “this chapter” is closed, I am in the process of going page by page (image by image) through that 1870 Census, to locate all of the households for the family I am searching for. The earlier Map I share before clearly showed that at least two farms had the right names associated to the property. Now can I find them on the image. So far, using the usual search hasn’t found them, but if I browse the images, I may find what I am looking for.

My current thinking is that if the Civil War widow is asking for an increase in her Pension, specifically mentioned 120 acres of land, in 1907, I should be able to find that farm.

One more bit of information. I found another map that had the farm owners name AND the acreage and year of purchase of that property. Not, the farm wasn’t listed there either.

I decided to put some data into a time line so see what that might show me.

Here is a time line of what I found about the Post Offices that appeared in the Pension file.

(remember, spelling doesn’t count)

I have started a spreadsheet to help be catalog the 126 pages of pension files. For this pass, the only concern that I had was to capture dates and Post Office names. I have a few notes to go back to, but trying to see of the Date and Post Office would tell me anything.

From the Pension file, Schooleys Mountain was the Post Office in the file from 1870 until 1907. That would indicate that they were living “on the mountain”. As you can see, 1907 and 1908 the Post Office changed to German Valley (the post office in “the valley”). Then, in 1910 returned to Schooleys Mountain.

So, something happened in 1907, right? Well, the Civil War Soldier, died 21 Oct 1907, so it appears that the Widow relocated to “the valley” with family. Several of the documents in 1908 talked specifically about 120 Acres that she had.

The 1900 Census shows that my Civil War Soldier was on “the mountain” with his wife and 4 children. I know where that property is located. The youngest son, would purchase a farm “in the valley” in 1916 (our 100th anniversary farm). But, the widow, returned to “the mountain”.

Why did she go back up “the mountain”? Could it be that a grandson still owned the farm on “the mountain” after he purchased the farm “in the valley” ? There was still family about where I think the farm is located today in the 1940 Census. Could that be the 120 Acre Farm?

But, why the 1870 Census Post Office being 22 miles away, with other Post Offices still active at the time.

Back to the Historical Society, for another look at their information on the Post Office and to see if they have any other Maps. I have already reviews the Online Maps, but before the 1900’s. They may also have access to or can point me to, Deeds for the Property that I know about, and to the size of that Farm.

Like this:

I recently received a Civil War Pension file, indicating that the Soldier and his wife (after his death) owned 100+ acres of land. The letters in the file had the suspected post offices mentioned. I know, from census records, that the family had property as early at 1860 in Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey. It wasn’t really a question of the township, but where in the township. Later census records were very clear where the farms were, including the current farm, celebrating 100 years at the current location.

I can also go back to the next previous farm, also in the township. In this area, one my say “in the valley” and “on the mountain”.

A visit to a local Archive was in order. The Archivist very nicely pointed me to where some old County Maps were located, and found an 1868 Map, that had the Civil War soldier’s father and sibling mentioned on the map.

Overlaying that map with Google Maps, I knew where the farm would have been. I drove to where I thought it was, and in fact, it is still a farm. All of the bends in the road were as they should be, the stream was where it should be, present day and that 1868 map. BUT, where was my Civil War Soldier. Certainly a 100 acre map would have some indication on that map.

I went back to the Census Records, reread my citation, and noticed something really weird. The 1870 Census has a Post Office name listed.

The Post Office in Succasunna, NJ, and the Census says Township of Washington. Clearly, there is a problem here. Succasunna is NOT in Washington Township.

Back to the maps

Succasunna is in the next township. Also, that was also one of the post office names in the Pension File.

Next stop, the Washington Township Historical Society. As it turns out, the person I spoke with knew exactly what I was talking about. The 1870 Census. She ready knew my question, where did Succassunna come from for that census record.

She had some information on the Post Offices in the township over time. Someone had already done research on them showing that they opened and closed over the years as the township grew.

I went back to verify my Census Records (image above) to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I did my usual back a couple of pages in the Census, forward a couple of pages. Many familiar and sometimes family names were listed, as expected in Washington Township, not in Roxbury Township, where Succasunna is located.

Well, if Post Offices opened and closed, there has to be a history of that. In fact I had looked for this before, but for Post Masters, not Post Offices. The notion in my mind was that the Washington Township Post Offices had closed or that the family was closer to this post office then ones on the other side / end of the township.

I did find a listing for Post Offices in New Jersey, and had dates that they were in “business”. Well, the Succasunna Post Office, didn’t open until 1888. BUT, in looking at that map again, besides Succasunna there was also “Suckasunny” (1808-1888). OK, my usual “spelling doesn’t count” clicked in.

So, I am confused, as well as the folk at the historical society, about the 1870 Census with a Post Office listed in the next township. and trying to see which of the 8 or 9 Post Offices that have existed in Washington Township might have been closed in 1870 to have the Census bureau use the neighboring township. Oh, and it’s not that close.

The other problem here, is that Enumeration Districts had not been established, from what I can tell for the 1870 Census.

I know that I am missing something here, but am not sure what that is. With a 100 acre farm, I should be able to find it on one of these historic maps. I have seen the 1868 map and a 1878 map and have located the father Jacob but not my Civil War soldier.

Am heading back to read the Civil War Pension file to see if there is a hint that I missed. I’ll pay closer attention to the Date and Post Office mentioned in the 125+ pages in that file, to see where this farm is.

Ellwood Palmer Strode was most commonly called Palmer, another person who went by his middle name.

This picture was taken in 1948, most likely in Maine. As a kid, I remember my grandparents going up to Southwest Harbor, Maine for some part of the summer. About every 5 years, we would go to Maine to spend a week at Echo Lake, not to far from where this picture was taken.

It wasn’t until I started to so family history research that I learned WHY Maine, to this specific part of Maine. My grandmothers family has a, now, Historic House in the Acadia National Park. Still standing today. Our Revolutionary War soldier is buried “just up the street” from where my grandparents stayed and very close to the homestead.

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About this Blog

The purpose of this Blog has changed over time. What started out to be an online version of some old Worthington Descendant Newsletters.
It has become a way to journal about my adventure into Family History, sometimes called Genealogy.
The change for me is more about finding out the stories behind the names and dates that I find about the people I find in my research.